Summer could also be on its final legs, however California’s hot labor summer actually isn’t.

It’s been an exceptionally busy few months for labor actions within the Golden State, with dozens of strikes since May throughout a variety of occupations, together with housekeepers, Los Angeles city workers, McDonalds workers and dockworkers. The walkouts by tens of hundreds of Hollywood actors and writers — collectively, the nation’s largest strike in years — are nonetheless going sturdy.

And quickly the listing may get even larger.

A coalition of a dozen native unions representing 85,000 pharmacists, nursing assistants, occupational therapists and different Kaiser Permanente workers have begun voting on whether or not to authorize a strike, as their present contract approaches its expiration on the finish of September. Though the employees are in a number of states, the good majority (78 p.c) are in California, in accordance with coalition information.

Union leaders are calling for increased wages, and so they have mentioned {that a} staffing scarcity at Kaiser hospitals and clinics is making it not possible to supply ample care to sufferers.

“Kaiser is facing chronic understaffing, because workers can’t afford to live in L.A. on the low wages they pay us,” Miriam de la Paz, a unit secretary who works at Kaiser Permanente in Downey, mentioned in a press release.

If all 85,000 staff lined by the contract have been to stroll out, it might be the most important strike by well being care staff in U.S. historical past, in accordance with the coalition. The soonest a strike would occur is Oct. 1.

On Labor Day, the union that represents a lot of the staff, S.E.I.U.-United Healthcare Workers West, organized an illustration exterior of Kaiser Permanente Los Angeles Medical Center in Hollywood to focus on its name for improved working situations, officers mentioned. In a deliberate act of civil disobedience, protesters sat in the course of Sunset Boulevard, and 25 of them have been arrested by the police, LAist reported.

Kaiser Permanente mentioned in a press release that it was assured that an settlement could be reached earlier than the present contract expired, and that the strike authorization vote “does not reflect any breakdown in bargaining, nor does it indicate a strike is imminent or will happen at all.”

“It is a disappointing action, considering our progress at the bargaining table,” the assertion added.

Labor actions are surging throughout the nation: More staff have been on strike within the United States in July than at any time since a minimum of January 2021, in accordance with the Cornell-ILR Labor Action Tracker. There have been 205,000 U.S. staff on strike in July, the tracker says; a 12 months earlier there have been simply 8,000.

“Strike activity has very much been driven by workers in Southern California,” Johnnie Kallas, who runs Cornell’s tracker, mentioned. “There seems to me to be an intimate connection between these strikes and the really high cost of living in the L.A. area.”

As my colleagues have reported, 2023 has introduced an unprecedented degree of cross-sector solidarity amongst unions in Los Angeles. The excessive price of residing and rising earnings inequality in Southern California seem to have fostered widespread floor amongst thousands and thousands of residents.

Kallas mentioned it was troublesome to estimate precisely what number of staff in California had gone on strike since May, as a result of lots of the actions concerned unions with members in different states. Roughly 37,000 staff have walked out in California-only strikes that started on or after May 1, he mentioned, however the bulk of the putting staff within the state are among the many roughly 171,000 writers and actors who’re putting towards the movie studios.

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Where we’re touring

Today’s tip comes from Bill Hildebrand, who recommends Northern California’s distant and rugged shoreline:

“The Lost Coast is an amazing place too few people experience. About four hours north of San Francisco on Highway 101, it is home to pristine redwood forests, crystalline rivers and gorgeous, rugged beaches. Imagine Big Sur without the tourists. Take your time and see charming small towns and beautiful beaches at Point Reyes, Mendocino, and Ft. Bragg along the way.”

Tell us about your favourite locations to go to in California. Email your strategies to CAtoday@nytimes.com. We’ll be sharing extra in upcoming editions of the e-newsletter.

Tell us

Recent shifts in how we collect and spend our free time have affected how incessantly we socialize. But our want to be collectively and the necessity for human connection stays unchanged. Tell us about how you gather.

And earlier than you go, some good news

A brand new pictures exhibition on the California African American Museum in Los Angeles explores the tales of Black Americans who settled on the California coast within the early 1900s, and the way their creation of vibrant, leisure areas challenged the white supremacy of the day.

On show is a trove of archival images, collected by the historian Alison Rose Jefferson, depicting Black beachside communities all through the Jim Crow period partaking in moments of leisure, recreation and pleasure.

See a preview of the show’s photographs here.